DRUG SUSPECT HELD IN SHOOTING OF NYC COPS

MIRAMAR -- A Jamaican weapons smuggling suspect wanted in the attempted murder of two New York City police officers was arrested on Thursday after a car chase through residential areas of this city, police said.

Albert Campbell, 28, of the 7100 block of Coral Boulevard, was the subject of a nationwide search based on information from the New York City Police Department and from Kansas City, Mo., where the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration charged him with distribution of cocaine, Broward Sheriff's Lt. Al Lamberti said.

New York police on Wednesday called the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a multi-agency organization based in Miami, to ask for help in finding Campbell, who goes by the name Michael LaPorta, Lamberti said.

Calling Campbell "a high-priority fugitive," Lamberti said the Jamaican native is suspected of smuggling weapons back to his homeland, an activity that the task force monitors closely.

Campbell, a resident alien, is wanted for the June 1986 shooting of two New York police officers, both of whom survived, Lamberti said. Authorities in South Florida were awaiting further details about the shooting today.

Also arrested at Campbell's home were two women, one of them Campbell's wife, who is an illegal alien from Jamaica, Lamberti said. Their names were not available.

Lamberti said Campbell allegedly was involved in a drugs and weapons smuggling scheme in which marijuana from Jamaica is sold in this country and the money used to buy weapons. The weapons are shipped back to Jamaica, where drug lords use them to protect their fields and in factional wars with other drug dealers, he said.

Task force members located Campbell's home in Miramar based on a phone number provided by New York police, who learned that Campbell may be in Miramar, Lamberti said.

Undercover officers from the Broward Sheriff's Office, Metro-Dade police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms watched the house Thursday.

Miramar police, called for assistance, joined the stakeout. Officer Bob Morgan saw a blue Honda, matching the description of a car given by the task force, and tried to get the car to stop.

Campbell was in the car driven by Orthnell McKenzie, 25, of Miami, Officer Jim Milton said. McKenzie led Morgan on a chase until the car hit a house on Sutton Drive and the men fled on foot, Milton said. Police arrested Campbell in an abandoned house in the 2400 block of Southwest 68th Terrace, and McKenzie outside.

Police found one gun in McKenzie's car and two others at Campbell's home, including a .357-caliber Magnum that was stolen in New Jersey, Lamberti said.

Campbell was being held on the charges out of New York, the charges from Kansas City, along with warrants from Platte County, Mo., and a charge of possession of a firearm from New York, Lamberti said.

McKenzie was charged with fleeing from a police officer, reckless driving, accessory after the fact and resisting without violence, Miramar police aide Mario Bonis said.